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Wyoming Joins Lawsuit to Defend Greater Sage-Grouse Management Plan

posted Mar 28, 2016, 3:01 PM by David Bush

March 10, 2016

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Matt Mead has directed the
Attorney General’s Office to intervene in support of the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The lawsuit was filed in
the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho by Western Watersheds
Project, WildEarth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity and the
Prairie Hills Audubon Society challenging these land management plans directed
at Wyoming’s Greater Sage-Grouse Core Area Protection strategy, which is
embodied in Executive Order 2015-4.

“Wyoming’s proactive approach to protect Greater sage-grouse
and its habitat is effective,” said Governor Mead. “This lawsuit is another
indication that the Endangered Species Act needs fixed. Successful conservation
efforts are challenged instead of celebrated.”

In its “not warranted” listing determination the U.S Fish
and Wildlife Service found: “The Wyoming Plan has been in place for 8 years,
and has demonstrated its conservation value by protecting areas identified as
important to sage-grouse conservation.” And further, “The adoption of the
Wyoming Plan into Federal land plans provides additional assurances that
protections of Core Areas will be achieved on all lands, regardless of land
ownership.”

“For more than a decade Wyoming has engaged in the largest
single-species conservation effort ever undertaken,” continued Governor Mead.
“We worked directly with the energy industry, agriculture, sportsmen and
conservationists to develop the conservation plan. These efforts have resulted
in a model for developing wildlife conservation. That model balances the needs
of Greater sage-grouse and its habitat while minimizing adverse effects on the
economy of the State of Wyoming.”